Brief description of the Estonian R&D and financing system
Estonian institutional framework for RDTI policy
Estonian R&D system
The Organisation of Research and Development Act provides the structure and functioning
of the Estonian R&D system. The Government of the Republic establishes national R&D
plans, submits them to Parliament (Riigikogu), approves national R&D programmes, ensures
cooperation between Ministries and enacts legislation. The Research and Development
Council provides consultation to the Government of the Republic on the matters of R&D. The
Estonian Development Fund supports equity investments in knowledge and technology
intensive Estonian enterprises in the start-up phase and organises foresight activities in
Estonia, required for assuring sustainable economic development.
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The functions in the Estonian R&D system are divided as follows:
 policy and decision makers are the Parliament and Government, advised by the Research
and Development Council;
 policy preparation and managing organisations are the ministries, advised by the
Research Policy Committee and the Innovation Policy Committee;
 main financing and supporting organisations are the Ministry of Education and Research
(advised by the Estonian Research Council), Archimedes Foundation and Enterprise
Estonia;
 R&D performing organisations are universities and other public and private R&D
institutions.
The two central organisations in Estonian R&D policy preparation and management are the
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the Ministry of Education and
Research. They are responsible for nearly all research funding streams and horizontal
policies. Both Ministries have special Divisions working on innovation policy and research
policy, respectively. These Divisions are fairly small (employing about 4-6 people each) and
face frequent staff turnover like most of the public sector in Estonia. At the same time, the
scope of their responsibilities is extensive, which is why they are happy to include their
implementing agencies and other experts into any process or project they work on.
Both Ministries have their advisory committees for policy development - Science Policy
Committee for the Ministry of Education and Research, and Innovation Policy Committee for
the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. These Committees include experts
from academic sector, industry and public sector. The Committees meet on an ad hoc basis
upon the invitation of the respective Ministers. The Committees usually advise the
respective policy Divisions of the Ministries on strategic issues, where the Ministries want
some expert opinion. The actual workload of the Committees depends largely on the
preferences of the specific Minister and the policy Division.
Both of the two ministries have their own implementing bodies. The implementing body of
the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is Enterprise Estonia, which is also
responsible for managing all the national programmes established by the Ministry. Estonian
Research Council distributes the personal grant funding that comes from the Ministry of
Education and Research. Other funding of the Ministry including institutional research grants
is distributed by the Ministry itself upon the advice of the Estonian Research Council. The
Ministry of Education and Research also collaborates with Estonian Research Council on
issues related to the European Framework Programmes and European Research Area.
Ministries report to the Research and Development Council, which is an advisory body to the
Government that has the final word on all major R&D policy documents. The Ministry of
Education and Research and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications
collaborate with the Council on a regular basis, and other Ministries only report to the
Council in case they have any policies regarding research. The Council comprises 4 Ministers,
4 representatives from academia and 4 representatives from business sector, thus providing
well-balanced expertise. The Council meets at least twice a year (usually somewhere
between 2 to 4 times a year). Most of the issues discussed by the Council are submitted by
the two relevant Ministries, but any Council member can raise an issue for discussion.
Usually the two relevant Ministries would have their respective policy Committees debate
their proposals prior to them being submitted to the Council for approval.
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Other ministries are expected to create R&D programmes in their respective fields and
report to the Research and Development Council if they do so, but only one has actually
done this. Therefore, their genuine role in research policy is negligible, except for the
Ministry of Finance, which plays a major role in the annual budget negotiations.
Change of the Estonian R&D system in 2012
R&D system was changed on the 1st of March 2012, when Estonian Research Council, a new
funding agency for Estonian research was established.
Estonian Research Council is a governmental foundation that was established on the basis of
Estonian Science Foundation and Estonian Science Competence Council in combination with
Research Cooperation Centre, a department from Archimedes Foundation acting as 7th
Framework Programme National Contact Point. All functions of those units were merged
into Estonian Research Council.
Estonian Research Council was established to concentrate the funding of R&D and guarantee
better functioning of financing systems. Estonian Research Council is one of the main
funding organizations of R&D, consolidating different grants and types of funding and giving
research more visibility in the society.
Estonian R&D Strategy
At present the main guideline and document for Estonian R&D policy is Knowledge-based
Estonia, the Estonian Research and Development and Innovation Strategy for 2007–2013,
that was approved by the Riigikogu (Parliament) in February 2007. The strategy outlines the
aspiration of Estonia to become a knowledge-based society where R&D are valued highly as
one of the preconditions for the functioning and development of the entire society.
The strategy sees Estonia as an innovative, highly competitive, successful country within the
European research and economic area. The document emphasizes the necessity for a long
term perspective in R&D investments, in order to better weigh the impacts and
requirements arising from external factors (global trends in scientific, technological and
economic development; the internationalisation of research, etc.) as well as internal factors
(the implementation analysis of the previous strategy document, the need to apply scientific
knowledge to meet socio-economic challenges, etc.). The strategy highlights the key role of
human resources and the transfer of knowledge in raising the quality of R&D and building
the innovative capacity of industry. It also devises the instruments for achieving the
identified aims.
According to the Knowledge-Based Estonia there are three key technologies in supporting
research and development and innovation:
1) Information and communication technologies - to promote the development of the
information society where access to information, and opportunities for its use in
everyday life, is ensured for everyone, and the development of IT applications in
enterprises encouraged;
2) Biotechnology - to encourage the unification of clinical medicine and molecular
biology research, whereby the resulting application should be used to improve public
health and to develop enterprise in the biotechnology field;
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3) Material technologies - to encourage the use of new materials and equipment, and
the development of related applied research and enterprise based on materials
technologies.
The new national R&D strategy is under development and should be sent to Parliament for
approval by in the end of 2013.
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Estonian R&D funding system (since 01.03.2012)
Funding Source
Policy Developers Determine
Funding Channels
Implementing Agencies
Distribute Funding
Ministry of Economic Affairs
and Communications
Enterprise Estonia
Estonian Research
Council
Types of Funding
National programmes:
 R&D financing programme
 Competence Centre programme
 Innovation Awareness programme
 Research and Development Institutions’
Infrastructure Development programme
Personal research grants
Institutional research grants
National
Budget
Ministry of Education and
Research
Base-line funding
Centres of Scientific Excellence
Estonian Research
Council
Funding streams
Funding advice streams
Other
ministries
National programmes:
 The Estonian Language and National
Memory
 Collections of Humanities and Natural
Sciences
National programmes:
 Collection and Conservation of Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
(Ministry of Agriculture)
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Brief description of funding flows
The majority of Estonia's research funding is determined and distributed by the Ministry of
Economic Affairs and Communications and the Ministry of Education and Research. They
determine the types of policies funded and assign numbers to specific funding channels.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications uses national programmes as its
preferred channel of funding. The Ministry prepares the programme documents and funding
numbers, and then Enterprise Estonia implements these programmes upon the instructions
received from the Ministry, and distributes the funding to end users.
The Ministry of Education and Research has a slightly more complex funding system - it uses
both national programmes and special funding streams. The implementing agencies the
Ministry has are Estonian Research Council and Archimedes Foundation. Estonian Research
Council distributes personal research grants, Archimedes Foundation is implementing
agency for most of structural funds. The rest of funding is distributed by the Ministry itself
following the advice of Estonian Research Council. These funding streams are: institutional
research grants; base-line funding for research institutions; Centres of Scientific Excellence
Programme that supports the activities of the Centres of Excellence; and some subjectspecific national programmes that support some specific activities.
In addition to these two Ministries, all other Ministries are assigned the obligation to
support research in their field of competence. Only one Ministry - the Ministry of Agriculture
- has done this so far.
Overview of the research funding system
Most of the government R&D expenditure flows pass through the Ministry of Economic
Affairs and Communications, and the Ministry of Education and Research. Most of the
funding is distributed through various national programmes, but the Ministry of Education
and Research also distributes institutional and personal research grants, and base-line
funding for R&D institutions. The size of research policy budget is also notably larger than
the budget of innovation policy. National programmes are generally prepared for 2-4 years
at a time, and usually include funding projects over the length of this period. In reality,
however, these numbers can change significantly, because final budget numbers are always
determined during annual budget negotiations with the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of
Finance is therefore viewed as one of the most influential Ministries for research policy
along with the Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and
Communications. This is the very reason the Minister of Finance is included in the Research
and Development Council, since this helps to keep the Minister better informed about why
increased spending in research is so critical.
Project-based funding
There are three major funding channels for basic research and they are all distributed on a
competitive basis, in principle.
1. Personal research grants are distributed by Estonian Research Council to individual
researchers and small research groups on a competitive basis. Personal research
grants are allocated once a year (in autumn) through a public competition where all
researchers (must have at least PhD) and small groups can submit their research
proposals. First personal research grants were distributed for year 2013 and they
shall gradually replace (in combination with institutional research grants) previous
system of “grant funding” was distributed by Estonian Science Foundation to
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individual researchers. In 2005 €5.8 million and in 2012 roughly €7.3 million was
distributed in grant funding.
2. Institutional research grants are distributed by the Ministry of Education and
Research following the advice of the Estonian Research Council. Institutional research
grants go to positively evaluated R&D institutions for research in specific thematic
areas. Institutional research funding is support allocated for financing high-level
research and development, and related activities (research themes) of an institution
involved with the aforementioned activities. The aim is to ensure the consistency of
the research and development of an R&D institution, and to upgrade, supplement
and maintain the infrastructure necessary for this purpose. Therefore, it is the
function of institutional research funding to ensure the stability of financing research
and development in an R&D institution by funding high-level research. The funded
research themes should guarantee the consistency and sustainability of a research
field in Estonia. The evaluation of the institutional research funding applications is
organized by the Estonian Research Council. First institutional research grants were
distributed for year 2013 and they shall gradually replace (in combination with
personal research grants) previous system of “targeted funding” which went to
research groups for research in specific thematic areas. Institutional research grants
are (with targeted funding) the most sizeable research funding channel in Estonia
with the budget of €14.7 million in 2005 and €23 million in 2012.
3. Base-line funding distributed by the Ministry of Education and Research goes directly
to positively evaluated research institutions. The funding is meant for the
implementation of strategic development goals of research institutions, which
basically means they are free to use the money according to their specific strategic
R&D development needs. One of the major expenses this funding is most likely to
cover is the matching requirements of various European research projects Estonian
research institutions participate in. The total budget for base-line funding was €4.1
million in 2005 and €7.2 million in 2012.
Programme-based financing: national R&D programs
The purpose of drawing up and implementing national research and development
programmes is to promote areas of importance specified in the strategic development plans
of research and development and areas of importance in terms of socio-economic and
cultural development and to organise surveys and research required for making and
implementing the respective sectorial policy of the state. A national research and
development programme will be drawn up in cooperation of ministries, activities set out in
the programme shall be financed from the state budget via the budgets of involved
ministries based on the activities specified in the programme.
There are six key areas of research prioritized until 2013 in research and development policy:
 Support for research and development in energy technology. Total budget €7.5 million.
 Support for research and development in health care technologies. Total budget €10
million.
 Support for research and development in environmental protection and technology.
Total budget €9.9 million.
 Support for research and development in biotechnology. Total budget €7.5 million.
 Support for research and development in materials technology. Total budget €9.9
million.
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 Support for research and development in ICT. Total budget €10.6 million.
For more information about national R&D programs have a look at report on achieving the
objectives and implementing the Estonian Research and Development and Innovation
Strategy 2007-2013 “Knowledge-based Estonia” in 2010 and 2011.
A few minor subject-specific programmes have been established, but the size of their budget
is negligible and they are meant more for the support of the infrastructure of scientific
knowledge. Two of these programmes are funded by the Ministry of Education and
Research:
 “Estonian Language Technology (2011-2017)” supports the development of language
technology research, which is an interdisciplinary field combining information technology
and linguistics. The 2012 budget of the programme was €0.75 million.
 „Estonian Language and Cultural Memory (2009–2013)“ supports research focusing on
the evolution of the Estonian language and national culture. The 2012 budget of the
programme was €0.5 million.
Three another specific programmes are funded by the Ministry of Agriculture:
 Research and data collection in plant genetic resources 2007-2013 with the 2012 budget
€0.2 million;
 Agricultural applied research and development activities 2004-2008, 2009–2014 (to
contribute to the competitiveness of agricultural production and its processing and to
ensure its sustainability) with the 2012 budget €1.4 million;
 Plant breeding programme 2009 – 2019 (to breed plant varieties for food, animal feeding
stuffs and technical purposes (incl bioenergy) with the 2012 budget €0.6 million.
Innovation policy programmes
The non-academic research is mostly performed in private sector and mostly for product
development purposes. Private sector research is supported by a couple of innovation policy
programmes developed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and
implemented by Enterprise Estonia. Innovation policy programmes that support private
sector research generally require a specific level of contribution from the applicant side. This
essentially means that nearly all the projects funded through these programs are co-funded
projects. These innovation policy programmes include:
1. R&D Financing Programme that supports feasibility studies, product development and
applied research projects conducted by companies. The funding distributed in 2005
amounted to €8.1 million. It finances between 35% and 75% of the project costs depending
on the size of the company and the nature of research, and between 60% and 100% of the
project costs if it is applied research conducted in a research institution. The total amount of
the programme in 2008-2013 will be €89.5 million.
2. Competence Centre Programme supports the establishment of small R&D institutions
operated together by a number of companies and universities. The goal of these Centres is
to engage in applied research needed for the product development of their founders.
Competence Centre Programme covers only between 35% and 75% of the total costs of the
projects launched in any Centre (the funding level varies according to the size of the
companies involved in the Centre). This means that the companies have to contribute a
significant share of funding to these Centres. Within the period of 2005-2006 funding
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contracts were signed with 5 Competence Centres with total programme funding amounting
to about €6.4 million. The total amount of the programme in 2008-2013 will be €64 million.
The non-profit sector R&D expenditure levels are almost negligible, partially because no
strong research centres have evolved in the non-profit sector.
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Name
Origin of funds
Type of funding
Targeted financing (replaced gradually by
institutional research grants since 2013)
Estonian Science Foundation grants (replaced
gradually by personal research grants since
2013)
State budget
Funding of long-term of research topics
(projects) to guarantee their sustainable
development
1998
Estonian Science Competence Council
State budget
Short-term “blue skies” project funding
Research groups (projects)
Research groups (projects), individual researchers
Field of
application /
purpose
Provision of long-term financing to research
groups
Eligibility criteria
Positive evaluation of the R&D institution
At least 5 principal investigators per project
Presence of high-level publications
1) scientific relevance of the topic;
2) the qualification of the principal investigator
and the research team;
3) relevance of the scientific topic for science in
general and the EU and Estonian economy and
culture,
4) the conditions of the relevant research
infrastructure
Evaluation of applications by national and
international experts, EstRC makes the
proposals for funding to the minister of
education and research
Up to 6 years (till 2004 up to 5 years)
Project financing to single researchers or research
teams for applied or fundamental research; also
to support graduate studies and post-docs,
development of international cooperation
Grant holder must have the PhD degree, highlevel publications
Starting year
Managing
organization
Beneficiaries
Allocation
criteria
Decision making
procedure
Duration of
financing
Budget 2005
Budget 2012
14.7 million €
22.4 million €
1993
Estonian Science Fund
The novelty and originality of the research task;
the clearness and justification of the research
task; the contemporariness of the research
method; the availability of equipment and other
facilities; the scientific qualification of the PI; the
participation of graduate and undergraduate
students in the research; the complexity of
research
Each application evaluated by two experts (from
Estonia or abroad), expert commissions in
different scientific fields make funding decisions
Up to 4 years
5.4 million €
7.3 million €
Base-line financing
State budget
General funding
Infrastructure costs (since 2013
infrastructure costs are part of
institutional and personal research
grants and infrastructure costs will
gradually be lost)
State budget
General funding
2005
Ministry of Education and
Research
Universities and research
institutes
Realization of strategic research
goals, primarily the co-financing
of EU projects, opening up of
new fields
The R&D institution’s R&D
activities have received positive
evaluation
95 %: number of ISI publications,
high-level monographs, patents,
past revenues, PhD thesis
defences; 5 % to national
sciences
1996
Ministry of Education and Research
Decision of the minister of
education and research; R&D
council advices on the support of
national sciences
The amount of funding is decided
each year
4.1 million €
7.2 million €
Decision of the minister of education
and research based on the proposal
made by SCC
Universities and research institutes
The coverage of infrastructure
maintenance costs of public and state
R&D institutions
Public and state R&D institutions
Public R&D institutions: 2/3
proportionally to the budget of the
targeted financed research projects
and 1/3 proportionally to the
institution’s infrastructure costs
budget in the last year
The amount of funding is decided each
year
4.9 million €
6.8 million €
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Estonian research and development expenditure
Budget of the Ministry of Education and Research and its main components (million Euros)
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Financing of R&D from the budget of Ministry of Education and Research, including
support from Structural Funds
R&D expenditures financed from public, private and foreign sources
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Centres of Excellence
Goal of Centres of Excellence is to support to high-level R&D and post-graduate studies,
promotion of cooperation between research groups, generation of innovation and creation
of better preconditions in international R&D cooperation
Right now, the following Estonian Centres of Excellence (CoE) are launched:
Head of CoE
Title of CoE
Leading institution Launching
time
Prof M Zobel Frontiers in biodiversity research
University of Tartu June 2008
Prof E Vasar
Translational research for
University of Tartu June 2008
improvement of diagnostics and
treatment of neuroimmunilogical
diseases
Prof T Tenson Center of Excellence in Chemical
University of Tartu June 2008
Biology
Prof V Lang
Centre of Excellence in Cultural
University of Tartu June 2008
Theory
Prof M Remm Centre of Excellence in Genomics
Estonian Biocentre June 2008
Prof T
Centre of Excellence in Computer
Tallinn University of June 2008
Uustalu
Science
Technology
Prof R Ubar
Centre for Integrated Electronic
Tallinn University of June 2008
Systems and Biomedical Engineering
Technology
Prof
Centre of Excellence in Environmental Estonian University July 2011
Ü Niinemets
Adaptation
of Life Sciences
Dr M Raidal
Dark Matter in (Astro)particle Physics National Institute
July 2011
and Cosmology (DarkMatter)
of Chemical Physics
and Biophysics
Prof
Centre for Nonlinear Studies
Tallinn University of July 2011
J Engelbrecht
Technology
Prof E Lust
Hightechnology Materials for
University of Tartu July 2011
Sustainable Development
Prof
Mesosystems - Theory and
University of Tartu July 2011
V Hizhnjakov Applications
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